1998/06/08 by Kenji Bekki · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brightest cluster galaxy #Elliptical galaxy #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Galaxy formation and evolution #Galaxy group #Galaxy merger #Interacting galaxy #Lenticular galaxy #Peculiar galaxy #Physics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/311508
14 pages 3 figures (ps file), ApJL in press
arxiv created 1998/06/08 · openalex publication_date 1998/08/01 · arxiv updated 2016/08/30 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
It is a long-standing and remarkable problem as to when and how red S0 galaxies were formed in clusters of galaxies. We here propose that the major mechanism for the S0 creation is galaxy merging between two spirals with unequal mass. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that galaxy merging exhausts a large amount of the interstellar medium of two gas-rich spirals, owing to the moderately enhanced star formation, and subsequently transforms the two into one gas-poor S0 galaxy with a structure and kinematics strikingly similar to the observed ones. This secondary S0 formation with enhanced star formation explains the smaller fraction of the S0 population recently observed in some distant clusters of galaxies. Unequal-mass galaxy mergers thus provide an evolutionary link between a larger number of blue spirals observed in intermediate-redshift clusters and the red S0's prevalent in the present-day ones.